buy what you can afford and have fun making quilts!

I agree. Buy what looks nice to you, and you can afford.

To quote what Terri said to me when I directed her to a site with Asian prints............"You're evil"

:lol: :-P

I made a quilt years ago using quilt shop quality 100% cotton. Some of the first I ever bought in a quilt shop. I didn't know not to, so I bought a poly cotton blend fabric from a discount store, not Walmart, I think it was a TG&Y store. I mixed the two fabrics together in the quilt. My DD has the quilt and the good fabric is faded, has stretched thin around the seams, and easy to get a tear. The poly cotton still looks as good as it did when I bought it. I like quilt shop quality fabric for the designs and color and the way it feels and I buy it when it's on sale. I also buy a lot of poly cotton at Walmart. I think the poly cotton fabric has somehow gotten a bad rap for no good reason. It feels great and sews great. And it doesn't distort so much when cut.

I had a similar experience with a pieced binding I did on my first quilt. It was a scrap quilt that turned out a little dull so I decided a pieced binding might spice it up. Not knowing any better, I just picked out the colors I needed and bought a mixture of cottons and poly/cotton blends. The cottons all wore through at the fold but the poly/cottons are still intact. I agree, poly/cotton has gotten a bad rap. That little bit of poly adds a lot of durability. I'd consider using it again for binding a quilt that will get a lot of use.

I found a place online called Marshall Dry Goods. They carry name brand quilting fabric at fantastic prices. I haven't ordered from them yet, but I plan to place my next order with them.

Oh, you don't know how true that is! :) :) Actually, I must admit I'm addicted to the nice stuff and the only way I can really afford it is to buy it at a discount. The fabrics I get at those places are the same first quality as the quilt shops. They just aren't the most recent releases. Guess I'm spoiled! LOL

I've got several of the Asian fabrics that I saw there and saw some that made me drool over. I may just have to finish out some of my collections with the coordinates that I saw there!

Ditto here

and here
I try to carefully check the quality, I also check the sales at the LQS, and love to pick through their scrap baskets. I may get my borders and backing at the LQS but really try to get it on sale. I hate to pay retail for backings.